BENGALURU: The recent job cuts in the technology sector have been largely blown out of proportion, said Krishnamurthy Shankar, group head of human resource development at Infosys, emphasising that as industries mature employees must be able to keep up with delivering high-quality performance.

In recent months, besides Infosys, big IT firms such as Wipro, Cognizant and Tech Mahindra have all trimmed their headcounts, attributing it to building a high performance-based work culture. At Infosys, Shankar said, attrition is at 13.8 per cent and involuntary attrition, meaning those who are asked to leave for performance and value mismatches, is at 1.3 per cent.

This year the company is planning to expand its headcount in India by about 24,000, of which about half will be freshers and the rest lateral hires. “With the industry seeing many changes and the use of new technologies, it is more imperative than ever to meet evolving standards of performance,” said Shankar.

In an effort to encourage its managers to be at the forefront of disruptions and changes in the work environment, the company last month rolled out MaQ, or Manager Quotient, a platform that utilises crowdsourced feedback and analytics to personalise the learning journey. The programme uses data culled from company surveys through the year, exit interviews and employee feedback to allow managers to see how they are doing on certain core competencies. MaQ details key aspects which Infosys expects managers to instil and demonstrate – inspire teams, execute projects, innovate on ideas and solutions, connect with people, coach other colleagues and take an interest in and being responsible for their own learning.

The platform will help managers pinpoint areas in which they are either “doing well” or “getting there”, and take necessary proactive measures to bridge the gaps. MaQ, run as a pilot earlier this year with a select few units, has been rolled out across the company to about 18,000 managers. The data refreshes itself every 24 hours, so every day managers get a real-time look at how they can grow with respect to better managing teams, learning new technologies and understanding the business domain. The programme is the newest addition to Infosys’ efforts to drive more accountability among managers for performance and deliverables.

Last year, the company rolled out Compass, a digital platform that allows employees to mobilise available opportunities on career growth, learning and networks. It also runs the Zero Distance programme — among the early initiatives of CEO Vishal Sikka, who took charge in August 2014 — which aims at innovation in all projects the company is running.

Jio’s Rs 2,399 annual plan offers 2GB per day data that costs effectively Rs 200 per month. It also offers unlimited voice and SMS. Airtel and Vodafone Idea’s Rs 2398 and Rs 2399 annual plans, on the other hand, offer 1.5GB per day data along with unlimited voice and SMS